Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Lisey's Story by Stephen King

10 reviews

snowhite197's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

jackbifrost's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, and Antisemitism

tifftastic87's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I loved this book when I read it on release. It had all my favorite Stephen King tropes: Castle Rock, blue chambray work shirts, a story of a novelist, a parallel universe, being able to flip between worlds, dozens of references to other books and songs, and a homicidal stalker. But! It was centered around a woman who was bad ass and she was even in her 50s. It was a story I needed at the time. 

But listening to it 17 years later as a fully fledged bad ass woman myself, it lost some of it's glow. At the time I didnt have a lot of examples of powerful women in lit or media, but since then I've found so many more and better. Some of this did not hold up the test of time. 

Mental health and childhood abuse are huge parts of this story and back in 2006 I loved how it was approached, but in the now of 2023... it's so bad. I caught myself being physically repulsed at some of the description, angry and sad at others. 

Overall, the story still gets me. One woman overcoming her grief and being stalked and attacked by a man out to hurt her just for the sake of hurting her, by finding the strength within herself. She gathered her sister, hollered her back, from a catatonic state, and realized she'd always been the strong one. Always been able to do things she never gave herself credit for. I still love that bit. 

It just... chose the wrong words from the language pool where we all go down to drink. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cursing, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

mxpringle's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book absolutely broke me. It is the best representation of trauma and mental illness that I've ever read, and because of this, it completely and utterly broke me. What makes this Stephen King book scary isn't the supernatural elements in it (which definitely exist within it), but the sheer concept of being constantly tormented by the monsters inside the human mind for the rest of one's life.  It was such a difficult read, but so incredible that I will probably think about it for years. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

dakotahrey's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was really sad.

Scott never got the closure and true happiness he desperately needed for his extremely painful childhood. It haunted him physically.

It started off really slow, I read the first couple of pages and put off reading it for weeks, but when it finally started picking up I finished it pretty quickly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

slayermel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Lisey's deceased husband was the great author Scott Landon. Scott has been dead for just over two years and Lisey is finally trying to work her way through his things so she can clear out his office space and donate the rest of his papers to which every college wants it for their collection.
Scott's papers are coveted and have led more than one overzealous Professor to her door looking to get their hands on some unfinished, never before published piece of work.
Lisey's story walks us through Lisey's grief and memories of her relationship with her husband. We learn about Scott's past and how he comes up with his ideas for his novels.
Scott's History was a complex and dark one and leaves you hanging, waiting to find out the rest as Lisey walks us through everything bit by bit, reluctant to revisit these dark and haunting memories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence

patrickreads89's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Sexual assault

steepedinbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

I’ve heard that this can be a pretty divisive novel among King fans. It seems it’s one that people either love or hate. I loved it. It was a bit slow to start, but it kept me intrigued throughout. A sure sign of a good book, for me, is when I stop now and again to read passages out loud to my husband, little things I found funny or bits of particularly striking writing. I did that often with this book. I really connected with the way King wrote about grief and loss. I was also struck by how he depicted the twisted up and confused kind of love a child can still have for an abusive parent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

felofhe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

drbassin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder